Concentrating apparatus.



- W. B. DARROW.

GONOENTRATING APPARATUS. 1

APPLICATION FILED APR. 20, 1908;.

906,205. Patented Dec. 8, 1903.

2 sums-sum 1.

' WiltmiEDarrom w. E. DAR ROW. (IONUENTRATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED Am. 20, 1908.

Patented Dec. 8, 1908.

2 T E E H S S T E E H s 00 mm %M hm w mm 4 a um/Whoa Wi'lion E.Darr0w Mommy WILTON E. DARROW, OF SUTTER GREEK, CALIFORNIA. l

CONCENTRATING- APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. April 20, 1908.

Patented Dec. 8, 1908.

Serial No. 428,240.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, WILTON E. DARRow, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sutter Creek, in the county of Amador and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Concentrating Apparatus; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains, to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in concentrators used in separating valuable metals from their ores, and particularly to a device in which low rade ores or mill tailing may be made to yie d their value in such a cheap, simple and effective manner as to render it profitable to work the same, this application being intended as an improvement upon my Patent No. 898331, dated September 8, 1908.

Further objects of this invention are to produce a rotary tray or shelf concentrator having rotating fabric-covered trays or shelves independently adjustably and interchangeably mounted in rows or tiers on central supports, such trays or shelves revolving or rotating around a central stationary pulp supcply mechanism having certain launders or fee connections for each row or tier of trays, whereby the pulp will be suitably and evenly distributed onto said trays. Also to produce a double system of spray mechanism for said trays whereby sprays will be disposed on each side of said shelves or trays and spray thereon from both directions. Also to produce a device having an admirably constructed and operated system of distribution for the pulp whereby the best concentrating results can be obtained from the action of the fabric covered trays or shelves.

These objects and minor ones I accomplish by means of a stationary pulp supply means around which is disposed a track or runway on which are wheel mounted a plurality of upright supports suitably connected with a driving belt or cable, on which supports are centrally adjustably and interchangeably mounted rows or tiers'of concentrating shelves or trays, such pulp feeding mechanism being suitably disposed to discharge on such trays or shelves as they rotate; also by suchother and further construction and relative arrangement of parts as will ap ear by a full perusal of the following speci 'cation and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the complete device. Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on a line xx of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is'a fragmentary view of a tray supporting means. Fig. 4 is a cross sectional View of ,a tray showing method of detachably supporting the same on an adjustable band.

I will now describe in detail the general construction and arrangement of the improved concentrator, then describe separately the whole operation thereof.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings 1 designates a main supporting frame around the lowerend of which is disposed a circular track or runway 2. Running on said track 2 are wheels or rollers 3 supporting vertical uprights 4 carrying a plurality of inwardly projecting arms 5 spaced apart in tiers, each tier carrying a circumferentially disposed in-' clined plate or ring 6 having dependent hooklike projections 7 upon which rest the inner ends of circumferentially disposed concentrating trays or shelves 8 said trays or shelves having angle iron sides 9;with centrally located dependent hooklike projections 9 by means of whichthe complete concentrating trays consisting of 8, 9 and 9? are removably attached centrally and adjustably on the supports 4 by means of the circumferentially disposed bands 10 said bands being adjustable vertically in slots 11 in said supports 4. and having adjustment nuts 12 for locking said bands 10 in anydesired fixed position.

Secured near the tops of the supports 4 are grooved segments 13 in which a driving belt or cable 14 operates, such cable being suit- ;ably connected with an independent driving gear 15.

On the top of the frame 1 is disposed an inclined segmental pulp feedtrough or launder 16 circumferentially disposed but leaving a blank space as at A during the interval of which the rotating trays 8 will receive no pulp, but will besprayed with clear water for the removal of the concentrates as will appear. A feed trough 17 may be used to carry pulp to the launder 16 from any desired point. An auxiliary launder or trough 18 leads from the launder 16 at intervals,.say

of a length equal to the width of one or more of the trays 8, there being an inwardly projecting vane or dam 19' at each of said auxiliary troughs 18 for diverting a suflicient amount of the pul into such members 18. From the auxiliary launders 18 extend a plurality of distributing launders 20, one set for each tier of trays 8, from each of which launders 20 a conduit 21 leads to a distributing plate 22, such plate having radiating ribs or rifiEles 23 for distributing its portion of the pulp equally along each adjacent segment of the inclined ring 6 from which it flows onto the concentrating trays 8. The construction just described is repeated for each of the said auxiliary distributers and each tier of trays as is necessary to complete operation. In the interval of blank space A, in which the trays 8 rotate without receiving a supply of pulp, are provided two clear water supply pipes 24 spaced apart on each side of the shelves or trays 8 and provided with spray pipes 25 and 25 projecting out over the surface of the trays 8 and being so disposed as to spray thoroughly over the surface of such trays or shelves, the pipe 25 being curved so as to spray the water over the interval of space necessarily occasioned by the supports 4.

Secured on the supports 4 below the lowest tier of trays 8 is a circumferentially disposed plate or floor 26 adapted to protect the pulp or concentrates from falling into and clogging up the rollers. Disposed around the entire machine below the outer periphery of the concentrating trays 8 is a tai ing launder 27, said tailing launder having a grade to any desired point of discharge, and 28 is a concentrates trough or launder projecting outwardly from the outer periphery of the floor 26 and adjacent to the spray mechanism, said launder being adapted to receive the concentrated mineral and convey it to any desired point as fast as it is removed from the concentrating trays 8 by the combined action of the spray water emanating from the spray pipes 25 and 25.

In using the device the pulp is fed into the launder 16 through the supply trough 17 and flows therefrom through the auxiliary launder 20 where it is distributed through the conduit 21 to the distributers 22 from which the ribs or riffles 23 spread the same evenly.

ticles of mineral ass over the lower edge of the trays and fal into the tailing launder 27 where they are carried to any desired point, either to be classified and re-concentrated or discharged as waste. As the trays 8 rotate the double system of stationary spray pi es 25 and 25 spray clear water thereon, tius washing off the accumulated mineral into the concentrates launder 28 which conducts it to any desired point for commercial use.

The trays or shelves 8 with their concentrating surfaces may be adjusted by means of the adjustable band 10 to any desired inclination according to the character of the material or pulp being treated and the speed of the rotations of the said trays may also be regulated as desired to secure the best results The trays are made rectangular in shape and all of the same dimensions and are therefore readily interchangeable either from one part of the same machine to another or from one machine to another. In this connection I wish to state that this is one of the important features of my invention as it enables me to quickly remove any undesirable tray from a machine and substitute a suitable one without the necessity of stopping the machine, the removal being effected by simply raising the outer end of a tray to dis engage the retaining hooks 9 from the adjusting band 10 and drawing it out like a shelf, a part of the space A being designed for making any desired exchange of trays after they have passed the spray pipes 25 and 25 and had the accumulated mineral sprayed ofi.

While I have in this design shown and described my device as used for one or a single concentration, still in practice it may be adapted to perform multiple concentrations on the same plant or on a duplication of plants, for the reason that when metalliferous ores are being pulverized preparatory to concentrating out and recovering the heavier particles of valuable mineral by wet concentration, a large percentage of the valuable minerals become so finely pulverized that they cannot be recovered by any single concentrating operation, for the reason that the quantity and force of Water required to remove and discharge the coarser particles of waste gangue from the concentrating apparatus carries a part of the fine particles of mineral with it, which would be lost unless subjected to further concentration. A closer saving of the valuable minerals can therefore be effected by subjecting the pulverized ore to repeated concentrating operations, sizing or classifying out and eliminating the coarser particles of waste gangue from the remaining pulp after each successive concentration, be fore subjecting it to another one.

When the concentrating operations are to be effected by causing the pulp to flow over textile covered inclined planes'as I do this in 1:

' design; it has been found that the greatest efiiciency of the fabric may be obtained by using the new rough fabric for efiecting the first concentration of the coarser articles of valuable mineral, while old "an smoother worn fabric on inclined planes set at a lower angle is more effective in collecting the finer particles of valuable mineral from the fine sands and sludges. Thus in using my improved concentrator, if desired for the sake of economy, in the case of small installations each tier of trays may be provided with an independent pulp supply whereby the sized or classified pulp may be fed to said tables,

. according to the degree of concentration desired, viz :On certain tiers of the shelves or trays the concentrating fabric will be new and rough forconcentrating the coarser particles of mineral from the coarse pulp, while in other tiers will be inserted trays on which the fabric has become smooth from previous use in concentrating coarsepu'lp, the trays of course being adjusted to the desired inclination required for perfect concentration. Or for large installations a duplication of entire plants would be used each one adjusted to treat a different class of material and the fabric covered trays would be either transferred from one plant to another as the concentrating fabric became worn or else each plant would be readjusted from time to time and a different class of pulp sent to it depending on the condition of the fabric on the trays. These constructions I have not shown in detail in the drawings, since the principle set forth would not be departed from, but merely a duplication of the parts would be em loyed, hence I would be entitled to the ful use thereof. This reclassifying and the independent pulp supply means described above are old in the art and are shown in other patents, for instance the patent to Hambric No. 878879, Feb. 11, 1908, of which I am a part owner, and in other atents, hence I will not specifically show or c aim the same herein, but merely describe how the same might apply to this present application.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have produced a device which substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein, viz:a rotating frame containing a plurality of uniform rectangular adjustable removable and interchangeable shelves or trays adapted to be rotated around a stationary centrally located pulp supply supplied with a simple and effective launder.

and distributing system. The uniform rectangular shape of the trays permits of a uniform flow of the pulp without forming mud bars on the outer periphery of the trays as is the case with other devices having flaring sides to the tables to correspond with the segments of a circle, and the interchangeable construction of the trays permits of a more compact construction than would be possible if the concentrating fabric had to be removed or exchanged from tables in place, and also permits of the concentrating fabric being transferred from one machine to another without being detached from its fastening on the tray when different grades of pulp are to be treated, so that the concentrating fabrics may be used for treating the class of pulp to which they are best adapted owing to the condition of their surface from previous wear.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice suchdeviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is g 1. A concentrating apparatus comprising a plurality of circumferentially disposed upright supports carrying inwardly projecting arms spaced apart in tiers, each tier carrying a circumferentially disposed inclined ring, a plurality of circumferentially disposed trays flexibly connected with said rings and being adjustably supported by said rotating supports, and a pulp supply discharging on said trays.

2. A concentrating apparatus comprising a plurality of circumferentially disposed upright rotating supports carrying circumferentially disposed bands adjustable vertically on said supports, a plurality of trays flexibly disposed on said supports and resting on said bands, and a pulp supply discharging on said trays as set forth.

3. An apparatus of the character set forth comprising a plurality of. upright supports roller mounted on a circumferentially disposed track, a plurality of grooved segments on the upper ends of said supports, a cable operating in said segments, a driving gear en-v gaging said cable, concentrating trays disposed on said supports, and a pulp supply discharging on said concentrating trays, as set forth.

4. A concentrating apparatus comprising a plurality of rotating supports, a plurality of circumferentially disposed table sections on said supports projecting on either side of the same, water supply pipes disposed on either side of said tables such pipes having projecting discharge pipes extending. over said tables and being spaced apart a sufficient distance to permit such upright supports to pass therebetween, and a pulp supply discharging on said tables.

5. A concentrating apparatus comprising a plurality of-rotating supports, a plurality of circumferentially disposedtable sections on said supports projecting on either side of the same, water supply pipes disposed on either side of said tables such pipes having projecting discharge pipes extending over said tables and being sp aced apart a sufiicient distance to permit such upright supports to prising a plurality of independent tables, a-

stationary pulp supply disposed centrally with respect to said tables, a stationary segmental launder into which said pulp supply discharges an auxiliary launder leading from said segmental launder intermediate each adjacent pair of tiers, a distributing launder leading from each of said auxiliary launders for each adjacent pair of tables in each tier distributing plates, such distributing launders discharging up on said distributing plates which distribute the pulp equally upon each adjacent pair of tables in each tier.

7. A concentrating apparatus comprising a plurality of rotating tables disposed in oilcumferentially arranged tiers each tier comprising a plurality of independent tables, a stationary pulp supply disposed centrally with respect to said tables, a stationary segmental launder into which said pulp supply discharges an auxiliary launder leading from said segmental launder intermediate each adjacent pair of tiers, a distributing launder leading from each of said auxiliary launders for each adjacent pair of tables in each tier, such distributing launders discharging upon each adjacentpair of tables in each tier, and ayane projecting partially across such segmental launder at the outlet of each auXiliary launder.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILTON E. DARROVV.

Witnesses:

PERCY S. WRBsrER, FRANK H. CARTER. 

